Verné Lesche, married Vanberg (11 October 1917 – 21 April 2002) was a

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. ...

from

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

who twice won the World Allround Championships. __NOTOC__ Lesche was born in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, Finland, and already skated a world record in 1933 when she was only 15 years old. Her successes continued and she won the world title for the first time in 1939, when

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

hosted the World Allround Championships. She won it for the second time in

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken (county), Viken, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and village ...

in 1947, making her the only speed skater in history to have won a medal at the World Allround Championships both before and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. At those 1947 World Championships, Lesche won all four distances and the difference in

samalog Samalog (or samalogue in UK spelling; sometimes sammenlagt in both Norwegian and Danish: "put together", "total sum") is a scoring system in speed skating. It is used in allround tournaments to convert results at various distances into points in o ...

points with the silver medallist, Norwegian skater

Else Marie Christiansen Else Marie Karlsen (born Else Marie Christiansen, 13 May 1921 – 19 September 2017) was a Norwegian female speed skater. She won a silver medal at the World Allround Speed Skating Championships for Women in 1947, behind Verné Lesche from Finl ...

, was 20.923 points – the largest difference in history between numbers one and two at an international championship. Of this 20.923 point difference, 6.983 points (equal to 41.9 seconds) were the difference between Lesche and Christiansen on the 3,000 m, while Lesche recorded a 9.690 point difference over Christiansen on the 5,000 m by skating that distance 1 minute and 36.9 seconds faster than the Norwegian. A very rare event took place at the Finnish Allround Championships in 1948. Lesche won one distance and finished second on the other three, and her resulting samalog score was better than that of any of her opponents. However,

Eevi Huttunen Eevi Huttunen, married name Pirinen (23 August 1922 – 3 December 2015), was a speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of spee ...

had finished second on one distance while winning the other three, and the rule at the time was that a competitor would automatically be the winner by finishing first on at least three distances. So despite having the best samalog score, Lesche won only silver. The most famous occurrence of this application of the ''three distance wins'' rule was at the 1983 World Allround Championships, when

Rolf Falk-Larssen Rolf Falk-Larssen (born 21 February 1960) is a former speed skater. __NOTOC__ Representing Trondhjems Skøiteklub, Rolf Falk-Larssen made his international debut at the European Allround Championships of 1982 and he was in the lead after three ...

became World Champion despite silver medallist

Tomas Gustafson Sven Tomas Gustafson (born 28 December 1959) is a retired Swedish speed skater, and one of the most successful distance skaters of the 1980s. Early career Born in Katrineholm, he won the World Junior Championships title, in Grenoble, France, i ...

having a better samalog score. Lesche's last international appearance was at the 1949 World Allround Championships where she finished fifth overall and set a new world record on the 5,000 m. Lesche-Vanberg died in

Kongsberg Kongsberg () is a historical mining town and municipality in Buskerud, Viken county, Norway. The city is located on the river Numedalslågen at the entrance to the valley of Numedal. Kongsberg has been a centre of silver mining, arms production ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, at the age of 84. Her son, Marcel Lesche Vanberg, was active in speed skating first as a speed skater himself and later as a starter. He was one of the official starters at the olympics at the 2006 Winter Olympics in speed skating.

Medals

An overview of medals won by Lesche at important championships she participated in, listing the years in which she won each: Note that the World Allround Championships of 1934 were unofficial.

World records

Over the course of her career, Lesche skated four

world records A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the ''WR'' column lists the official world records on the dates that Lesche skated her personal records. Note that Lesche's personal record on the 500 m was not a world record because Synnøve Lie skated 50.3 at the same tournament. Also note that the ''old combination'' was not an official world record event, as governed by the

International Skating Union The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded in Scheveningen, Net ...

, until 1949, and that the ''small combination'' was not an official world record event until 1983. Lesche has an Adelskalender score of 217.896 points.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Bijlsma, Hedman with Tom Dekkers; Arie van Erk; Gé du Maine; Hans Niezen; Nol Terwindt and Karel Verbeek. ''Schaatsseizoen '96-'97: 25e Jaargang 1996-1997, statistische terugblik''. Assen, the Netherlands: Stichting Schaatsseizoen, 1997. . * Eng, Trond. ''All Time International Championships, Complete Results: 1889 - 2002''. Askim, Norway: WSSSA-Skøytenytt, 2002. * Teigen, Magne. ''Komplette Resultater Internasjonale Mesterskap 1889 - 1989: Menn/Kvinner, Senior/Junior, allround/sprint''. Veggli, Norway: WSSSA-Skøytenytt, 1989. (Norwegian)

External links

Verné Lesche at SkateResults.com

Verné Lesche
''Deutsche Eisschnelllauf Gemeinschaft e.V.'' (German Skating Association).
Historical World Records
''International Skating Union''.
Medal Winners in World Allround Championships
''International Skating Union''. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lesche, Verne 1917 births 2002 deaths Finnish female speed skaters Sportspeople from Helsinki World record setters in speed skating World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists